This Moment is our Last
by Sarah August
Summary: What if Elena really wanted to choose Damon at the end of 3x22 but needed a gentle push to make her choice? Delena, Stelena, Elijah/Elena friendship. Short story.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** This Moment is our Last

**Summary: **What if Elena really wanted to choose Damon at the end of 3x22, but needed a gentle push to make her choice. But in the end, both brothers lose her as Elena changes into a vampire. Both can't help but wonder what it will all mean. Also answers the question of who's blood Elena was given to become a vampire. Short story. AU. This is more Delena than Stelena, but I hope it gives both pairings justice as I adore both.

**Author: **Sarah August

**Notes: **Short story. Damon/Elena, Stefan/Elena, Elijah/Elena friendship.

**Category:** AU

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

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"I know that I should be able to make a choice..." Elena trailed off, talking to Elijah on the phone. It was the most ridiculous thing. She never pictured pouring her heart out to Elijah of all people and by the phone no less, but somehow she found speaking to him to be so comforting.

"But you're afraid of hurting someone..." Elijah trailed off in a bittersweet whisper. He was lost in his own memories of a girl who had loved two brothers and simply couldn't bare to hurt either of them. But in the end, her love had burned all of them. "Who do you really want, Elena?" He pressed gently. "I believe you really know the answer to that. You loved Stefan, because he was there when you needed someone to be. But he left, and you moved on. I don't believe you should judge yourself so harshly for getting on with life, or hold yourself back out of a sense of loyalty. What do you really want, Elena? Ask yourself that question."

Elena sighed deeply, feeling relieved to finally admit the truth to herself. She loved Stefan because of what he gave her during their relationship and what it had meant to her. She would always love him because of it. But when he had left it had opened a door to something she never allowed herself to see before. Just how much Damon had come to mean to her and how important he was to her. He was always there. He held her hand through the worst moment of her life since losing her parents. The loss of Stefan had been unbarable to her, but he had gotten her through it. He stood by her when she needed someone the most. He was always there for her. And Elena had slowly fallen for Damon over the past summer because of it.

She hadn't wanted to admit it. Part of her would always be afraid to admit how strong her feelings were for Damon Salvatore. But she was tired of running from them.

She didn't want to hide them anymore. The very thought brought Elena an overwelming feeling of joy. She pined to finally tell him everything. How much she loved him would be the best place to begin.

But she would have to tell Stefan first.

Her eyes filled with tears.

Her heart broke at the thought of doing anything that might hurt Stefan. And admitting her love for his brother was going to change things between them forever.

"Thank you, Elijah. I know what I'm going to do."

"Elena, you should look in your pocket. I gave you a small vile of my- just in case you need it. I know that you are still recovering..."

"Thank you, Elijah," She replied, cutting him off with a smile heard in her voice. "Meridith told me she gave me some vampire blood already..._ from a mystery doner_..." Elena finished teasingly.

"Goodbye, Elena," Elijah said finally, his tone light. Elena felt sad. It was almost like they were saying goodbye forever.

"I'll see you... after all this... I'm sure," She replied quickly, wanting his promise that they would. Her caring obvious in her tone. After it was all said and done, she still cared about Elijah. Elena knew she always would count him a friend of hers.

"Of course," He replied, after a long moment, emotion deep in his voice. Finally, her unspoken forgiveness, and it brought him peace.

Both disconnected, and Elena called Stefan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

He seemed startled to hear her voice, almost strained as if he was bracing himself for something.

"Elena..." Stefan said, trailing off. No words could describe how much he needed to hear her voice right now. And at the same time, he simply knew why she had called him. It wasn't simply to just bid him goodbye because she knew that he could likely be dying right now. It was to tell him her answer to the big question that Elena couldn't seem to make up her mind about. Who did she want to be with?

"Stefan..." She started again, her own voice filled with strain and her emotions were making her tears obvious, even through the phone. Elena had made her choice, and her choice wasn't to be with him. Stefan knew there had been a great chance that Elena wouldn't pick him. Damon had been there for her at a time that had been their worst together. In that time, Elena had untentionally fallen for his brother in his absence. He didn't fault her and he didn't hate her for it. He did_ leave her_, not the other way around. Stefan had left Elena and he had never really made his way back to her until just recently. Just when she was begining to realize her feelings for his brother.

It hit Stefan like a pile of bricks to know she hadn't chosen him. Tears stung his eyes sharply and he tried to blink them away so he could hear what she had to say. It was the least he could do for her after what he had put her through the last several months. "Elena... it's okay," Stefan found himself saying. "It's going to be okay."

She sobbed into the phone at his words and he could sense her relief and pain and joy to know that it was okay. Perhaps they would be okay after this to still be friends.

"I'm so sorry, Stefan..." Elena said back when she found her voice. "I love you, I do, Stefan. It's not a question of that. But Damon..."

"You don't have to say it, Elena," Stefan cut her off, being unable to hear her declare her feelings for his brother right now. "I get it. I wasn't there. For so long, I just wasn't there..."

"You're going to be okay, Stefan," Elena began again, her voice breaking. "You hear me?"

"Don't worry," He insisted, his own tears mixing with his voice. "I'm not out of this yet..."

Stefan then disconnected the call first. He was likely dying and he had lost her and worst of it all... he likely was never going to see her again.

He had promised Damon he would leave Mystic Falls and he would if he survived the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

He moved quickly through the storage garage. Damon could sense that he wasn't alone. Alaric was here somewhere, and Rebekah was due to meet him at any moment. He had to get to Klaus before Alaric did and without being noticed.

Damon paused briefly when he found the storage unit where he had hidden Klaus. Thoughts of Elena consumed him. She was finally at a point where she couldn't help but see that she might actually have feelings for him after months of denial... months and months of denial, if you wanted to be realistic. And his little brother finally decides that he doesn't want to live without Elena after months of pushing her away.

Damon knew that it had been only a matter of time until Stefan realized he still was in love with Elena, and with it his only real shot with Elena gone forever. But this time had been different from the others. There had been some period of time where Damon allowed himself to believe that Elena might actually choose him over Stefan.

They had kissed twice over the last few months. And each time, Elena had gladly returned his passion in her kiss. It was those kisses that had finally given Damon real hope that maybe he wasn't going to be alone anymore in this.

But then Stefan just had to step up to the plate again. Elena still loved Stefan and would always love Stefan. Damon accepted this from the moment he seen his brother had captured the heart of Katherine's enchanting, head turning doppelganger, right out from under him, literally. And without even knowing he had done so.

That was his own personal fault. Damon knew that and refused to blame Stefan. Stefan had no way of knowing that he had actually seen Elena first, and not him. And in that moment, sparks had flew like the speed of lightening.

As much as he had loved Katherine, not even his feelings for her had prepared Damon for meeting Elena. They were the mirror image of each other, but no two women could be more different than the other. Meeting Elena was like watching the stars in the night sky. Something was just so right about it and unquestionable. Something just clicked.

And stupidly... all so stupidly... Damon had thoughtlessly made it all go away and before he could talk to Elena again, Stefan had found her and the rest was history.

His phone rang and he answered it.

"Elena..."

"I'm coming... don't go anywhere, okay?" Her voice said in a rush.

"What?" He was stunned. Damon was so surprised he staggered. She was supposed to be in Mystic Falls, not coming here. "Elena... what are you talking about? What's going on?" He insisted. It was too dangerous for her to follow him here.

"Damon, I know... just... just be there, okay? I'll be there soon."

He hissed and sighed warily. "Elena... you don't have too. You should go home and be with ... be with Stefan. And everyone. This still might not end good."

"I have to see you first," Elena insisted, forcing a half smile to his lips.

"Elena... since I might be a dead man walking here... would you mind answering one question for me?"

"Anything," She spoke the word like a vow.

"Out of my brother and me... " Damon started, sounding nervous. "Who... who got the goodbye here?"

He could kill the silence with his teeth. He shouldn't have asked her.

"It's okay, Elena," Damon said after a long and brutal silence. "I get it. It's always going to be Stefan..."

"No," She started, finding her voice. "I just spoke with Stefan, Damon. The reason why I'm going to you, because I want to tell you how I feel about you. As much as I love Stefan, Damon, I can't bare the thought of walking away from you. I know that I have to choose. I don't want to hurt either of you. But I really love you, Damon. I love you and I want to tell you that. Not like this... that's why I'm coming, so let me come... then, I'll go back home. Okay?" Her voice broke, filled with emotion and Damon felt himself choking with tears of his own.

His heart pained for his brother. Stefan, who had closed himself off for so long, had finally opened himself up again to Elena, to only lose her anyway. Damon knew what that was like and he sincerely hurt for Stefan. But at the same time, he couldn't put to words the feeling of joy that Elena had just given him.

She loved him, she finally admitted it. And maybe, just maybe, if they got out of this, they'd try and see where that could take them.

"Okay," Damon finally agreed, laughing, overwhelmed by his feelings for her.

The call disconnected and Damon wiped away the tears quickly upon seeing Rebekah approch. "What you looking at, sexy Beks?" He said teasingly, trying to get her to not say anything about what she had just witnessed. He wasn't ready to discuss it yet, as he could hardly believe it had been real.

The two vampires soon made their way to remove Klaus from the storage unit with Rebekah smirking at him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

They were nearly all the way out when Alaric managed to track him. In a blur, Alaric had thrown him out of the way with Rebekah and went after an imprisoned Klaus in the coffin with a vengance. With simply a few motions, Klaus was staked and set a blaze as the fire from the oak wood tree consumed him gladly. Alaric then emotionlessly closed the lid on the burning body and stared at it a moment before looking back towards Damon who was holding on to a grief striken Rebekah.

Damon couldn't believe how devestated the original sister was at the loss of her brother. She could barely stand as he held her in place. The cold hearted sister who seemed to care about nothing had loved her brother to the end. "Run," Damon urged her when Alaric began to stalk them. There was still a slim chance that Rebekah had been lying and she was the creator of their blood line. Damon wanted her out of here just in case. Perhaps Stefan might still survive this.

As Alaric stepped closer to them, there was a noise behind Alaric which made them all turn and look. The garage door opened to the night outside revealing the one person that Damon had been dying to see. There she stood, wide eyed with sudden horror as she quickly realized what she had just walked in on with Matt Donavan by her side.

No.

Before Damon could react and think of how to get Elena out of here and away from Alaric, Rebekah acted first. Filled with rage at the sight of the doppelganger, the original used all her remaining power to break free of Damon's grasp and lunged after Elena with a sudden speed that Damon had never witnessed before. In one motion, Rebekah grabbed her and drained the life from Elena. When Matt tried to stop her, Rebekah gave him a push that sent him flying across the room and landing with a sickening smack of breaking bones. No one was going to take this from her and survive.

Damon reached Elena and Rebekah mere seconds later, but it was much too late. Alaric was already on his knees dying as he helplessly could only watch Elena's remaining life leave her forever. Damon, with all his power, managed to free Elena from Rebekah's iron grasp on her bare neck which was coated with thick blood. Elena's blood.

Damon gave a startled cry of a wounded animal when he took Elena gently in his embrace and set her to the floor when her head rolled inhumanly backwards. Her neck was broken and it would never be the same. She would never be the same. So full of life and filled with love for all those she cared about. His beautiful Elena who had finally realized she loved him too.

"Elena," He whispered, sobbing, broken by his grief at her loss. She lay motionless, gone. There was no life there anymore and Damon gave a cry so broken he sounded like a child. He helplessly, lost, looked back to Alaric who was also dead. He died the moment that Elena left this world forever. Damon wished he was with them both, where ever they were.

At the back of the room Matt Donavan began to move. Perhaps it wasn't too late. If they could just get them both back home, perhaps it wasn't too late. He lifted Elena first and hissed to the startled teenage boy to get Damon's car.

Perhaps it wasn't too late.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

He carried her into the hospital from the parking lot, leaving Matt Donavan back in his car. The kid likely had several broken ribs and Damon guessed he had one leg that was broken in a few places. But he would have to wait.

No one came before Elena to Damon. Nothing else mattered accept for her.

"Help her," He begged Meridith Fell, spotting the doctor in the hall way speaking to someone else.

The doctor was shaking at the sight of Elena in his arms. The girl was dead. It was obvious to anyone. Damon looked wild eyed and so lost. Anything that had been important to the vampire was now gone and he was insisting that she make it better.

"Damon," Meridith started, forcing back tears of her own. She had no idea of how to break it to him, but someone had to say it. Elena was dead and she wouldn't be coming back. Looking at a glance, either her shattered neck or loss of blood killed her almost instantly. "She needs to be moved to a bed," Meridith said shakily, finding her voice upon staring into Damon's frightened face.

"Save her," Damon insisted after putting Elena down on a bed. "Fix her... do something... please," The vampire begged, seeing the hopelessness in Meridith's face, but refusing to believe it.

"I can't, Damon," Meridith started uneasily. "When Elena had been here yesturday, she was dying due to her trauma to the brain. I used vampire blood to save her... she wanted me too. She didn't want to leave Jeremy alone."

"What?" Damon was floored. That meant that Elena had likely died with vampire blood in her system. But who would give her blood and not say anything?

"It's over, Damon," Meridith continued. "She's going to be a vampire when she wakes up."

"No," Damon said tearfully, utterly heartbroken for the girl he loved.

"You need to tell Stefan," Meridith said.

Damon was instantly crushed upon the thought of telling his brother all of this. He had loved Elena too and the girl they had both loved was now gone forever.

"Okay," Damon said after a minute. "But don't leave her alone," He then ordered. "I'll be right back. Then you can fetch that idiot Matt out of my car."

Meridith was about to ask, but was silenced by Damon.

"Don't worry," Damon spat. "He's still alive, for now."

Damon was then gone in a flash.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Stefan was inside Elena's hospital room before Damon made his way back to her after ending his phone call with his brother. Devestated beyond anything, Stefan sat in a chair across from Elena's still body.

Not only had he lost the girl, the girl also died. Damon knew that their places could have been reversed. Elena could have just as easily chosen Stefan, going with the safer choice. The choice that was more stable of the two.

And now the girl, _their girl_, had not only died, she was becoming a vampire. The one thing they both would have gladly died to protect her from becoming. It shocked Damon to see Elena in this state. Motionless, lifeless. But he knew the process wasn't instantly. Her body was closing down, taking her to a whole other form of life.

Stefan met his own shocked, devestated face, and tearfully turned away, looking back to Elena. "I should have stayed with her," Stefan whispered aloud.

"I_ was _with her," Damon admitted guility. "I couldn't do anything to stop it... Rebekah was just too fast..."

"She's going to need you Damon," Stefan went on, surprising him. "She can't do this by herself. She never wanted this."

Damon blinked. Just less than two hours ago he was listening to Elena admit her love for him over the phone, now he was faced with her death and impending vampire rebirth. And his brother was going to leave them both forever. The thought alone broke something deep in Damon. He couldn't picture this life without his brother. He loved his brother more deeply than he could ever say aloud and didn't want to face losing him. He didn't want to be completely responsible for Elena in her new state either. What if he screwed up? What if he hurt her again?

"You should stay Stefan," Damon said distantly, forcing back angry tears. "She needs someone she can count on. That isn't me and we both know it."

"No," Stefan shouted, suddenly angry too. "You won't do this, Damon. She loves you. You don't get out of this without even trying."

"If she had picked you, Elena would still be alive. Not..." Damon voice broke, looking to the floor.

"Don't do that to yourself," Stefan urged him softly. "Elena choose you because she knows she can count on you no matter what happens. She will never regret her choice Damon. I promise you. If you only try."

Damon scowled drakly, fighting the urge to flee. He didn't want to really go. Damon didn't want to admit it, but he was afraid of finding out what was going to happen if he stayed. If he tried.

"It's alright to be afraid Damon. You love her. It's normal to be scared."

Damon glared back at his brother but didn't correct him. Just as he looked back to Elena she did the one thing that could possibly scare the hell out of him right now at this moment. Elena Gilbert, the newborn vampire, woke up, calling his name.

Slowly, Stefan left the new couple alone. He took one last look back before exiting the room and smiled. He could never regret loving Elena. And although she picked his brother, Stefan knew that he would always love her, and he could do so forever now because Elena was never going to die again. Not just because she was now a vampire, it was because for the rest of eternity she would walk side by side with his brother, her fierce protector. Damon would give his life for her at her mere word and do so with a smile to his face.

Elena would go on living because Damon loved her. The thought gave Stefan a great sense of peace knowing that she was going to be just fine.

**The End**


End file.
